I ascribe the expression “the Prepared Mind” to two people. Firstly, to Louis Pasteur, who said: “Fortune favours the Prepared Mind”. Secondly, to Ulf Henriksson. It was Ulf who took Invensys plc into the FTSE-100 – and who headhunted me out of the Army some ten years ago to join the company. He used the expression to describe the state of mind required to deal with potential crises, of which we had many. It was to be achieved through forward thinking, training and teamwork.

Marshall McLuhan coined the term “the Global Village” over half a century ago. The inference was that everywhere had become our neighbourhood. Through media coverage of other countries we know something of what it is like to be threatened by ISIS, to suffer extreme weather or to be exposed to fallout from a nuclear accident. In effect, what happens “over there” doesn’t stay over there. We cannot insulate ourselves from the dynamics that affect resilience elsewhere in the world. And because these dynamics are always in motion we cannot simply apply existing solutions in order to maintain resilience.

With our Prime Minister’s full and frank apology in May 2018 to Abdel Hakim Belhaj for the government’s role in his rendition to Libya and subsequent torture, a line of sorts was drawn under the relationship that had existed with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. From that perspective it makes it easier for that relationship to be characterized as simply a regrettable mistake.

Unpaid internships favour those who can afford to take them and discriminate against those who can’t. They have been a feature of British business life for decades. Each year, thousands of university and school leavers are grateful for the opportunity. However, the reality is that unpaid ‘work’ –which includes many internships – has for a long time been illegal.

New York, Las Vegas, Paris, London: with every new headline and announcement of tragic and often violent incidents, there is a temptation for those within communities to close ranks and shield themselves from an increasingly commonplace reality.

There is an important theme that runs through three recent high-profile crises: the Volkswagen “defeat device” scandal, the mishandling of the Grenfell Tower fire and the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse case. This theme was the perception of an utter lack of care and indifference by senior people towards those for whom they had responsibility. It has caused huge and long-term damage to the organisations and people involved.